@black Knights:
Nyton charged in fast and furious, with Arethusa succeeding in angling a shot around Nimura's shield just shy of their collision, jostling her - that went as planned.
Nyton's grab for the shield arm ended up with him seizing the shield itself and then bracing against it while spraying hemosynthetic blood from Nimura's struck shoulder sprayed crimson and betrayed weakness in that defense, leaving her open - that also went as planned.
When thin, wickedly sharp limbs grew from behind Arethusa's back to stab toward the vulnerable sensor pack, Nimura released the hardpoint fastening the shield to her forearm and made to gracelessly fall on her butt, narrowly evading the attacks. She never actually touched the floor, but rather stopped and floated just shy of touching down with her legs bending just as Arethusa's nodal battle tentacles whiplashed the empty air above her - Nyton's plan shattered to pieces when Melisson's champion launched a trio of mini-missiles at point blank range.
With no time to reuse the shield left in his grasp, he had the time to twist around and dodge one of them. The other two SDM guided projectiles smacked into him, driving him back as their telltale electronic fizzle stripped Arethusa of her powerful barrier field.
...and Nimura, her Daisy's barrier reactivating just after the mini-missile impacts on Nyton, had both forearms pointed his way as she fired her pulse cannons. He
tried to dodge, but Arethusa's gravimetric fields were also tied to inertial control and he proved too sluggish. Still, pulse cannons, even in the area burst mode, Arethusa could shrug off without barriers.
The same couldn't be said for his grenade bandoleers. One incendiary was compromised, cooked off, and the rest quickly followed in a chain-reaction that tossed Nyton back like a rag doll while Nimura shielded herself with her arms, her barrier flickering at it protected her from the worst of the explosions that had beset Nyton.
In an eyeblink, the M8 power armor was tossed back, spreadeagled, before a second explosion pushed it to the side and the rest followed, having it do a unsteady arcing corkscrew in the air from the added blasts of the other concussion and fragmentation grenades.
When Nyton touched down, bounding and dragging on the cracked calcinated semi-organic floor, he was still alive... but not in a good way. The man was on his back, helmetless and the nodal armor having slouched off most of his upper body and leaving Nyton exposed to the stifflingly hot air, while his legs were still encased but pinned down by the mostly inert material - perhaps the M8 Nadia still could function, but too much of it was carbonized at that time for it be be able to operate as a power armor until it self-restoration functions had a few minutes to renew it.
Feeling singed, battered, air blasted out of his lungs and stars dancing in his vision, Nyton could just bring his head up to see Nimura making unhurried steps through the haze of heat and smoke. Her right gauntleted hand reached up and retrieved the plasma rifle she had still in reserve.
@Defense Line:
The semi-automatic spray of frangible grenades, scattered in an arc and then detonating, fell through the bones of
Miharu's main hull and mowed through the surging ranks of the Mishhuvurthyar horde. Some of the enemy fell, some of the enemy writhed and slowed down, others forged on with berserker fury only to be greeted by the eye-blinding explosion of the thermite round.
When things cleared up,
Miharu's twisted near-skeletal shell was casting shadow over the smoldering remains of shattered Mishhuvurthyar shells.
"It's Kurohoshi-Juni!" Tsuya squealed, and many others seemed equally grateful for the well-timed relief. The next Mishhuvurthyar wave lagged some, the number of corpses ahead urging them to more cautious approaches.
"Those that are too badly wounded, get back inside and take a minute to recuperate," Mara spoke up.
"Those with depleted barriers, hunker behind cover and let it recharge. Others, stand ready."
Two of the battered defenders left the line, dragging a third immobile Daisy with them. As they went by Masako, the many wounds of the unmoving Daisy - including an unnaturally twisted neck - indicated that one was beyond medical aid.
